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DotA 2 Mechanics - Gold

Mon 4th Mar 2013 - 8:18pm

Gold in Dota 2 is more complex than people give it credit. It's not just a pile of gold you have that you lose some of when you die. There are many different ways to earn it, lose it, manipulate how much you lose and earn, and there's all the math behind it. It's all crucial info to know as well if you want to play at a higher level.

Knowing how much gold you need to have for buyback (we'll go over that later), how much gold you'll lose when you die, or how much a particular item costs, are extremely crucial items of info in a match, and have decided matches at a professional level before.

Introduction To Reliable and Unreliable Gold

For starters, there are two basic categories of gold, reliable and unreliable. Reliable gold is earned from hero kills, Roshan, and the global gold earned from the destruction of an enemy tower, denied or not. This gold can only be lost through buyback as that prioritizes your reliable gold and purchasing items if you have no unreliable gold.

Unreliable gold is earned through everything else, (including creep kills, neutral kills, naturally earned periodic gold, and getting the last hit on barracks and buildings). It should also be noted that the natural 200 or 100 gold earned from a tower is reliable while extra gold earned from last hitting a tower (Tier one tower is an extra 264, tier two is 308, tier three is 359, and ancient towers are 414 for the first, and 407 for the second).

However, it should also be noted that there are three abilities and one item that can boost your gold income.

First, there is Alchemist's ability, Greevil's Greed, which grants additional unreliable gold upon kill regardless of who or what it is.

Secondly, there is Doom's ability, Devour, which will grant an additional boost of unreliable gold after a short period.

Thirdly, there is Bounty Hunter's ability, Track, which gives additional reliable gold upon a heroes death if they have the debuff applied on them.

Fourth is the item, Hand of Midas, which overrides the creeps typical bounty with a reliable 190 gold.

Kills and Assists

The first instance of reliable gold you'll typically see every game is the "First Blood" kill. The person responsible for the kill will receive a bonus 200 gold, in addition to this formula used for how hold is allocated in kills:

Streaks factor into this, with an increase in worth the higher the killstreak they're on. The current gold earned from this is:

- 0 if the hero has no kills since last respawn

- 0 if the hero has killed another hero and not died yet

- 0 If the hero has two kills in a row

- 50 Gold for three kills in a row

- 100 Gold for four kills in a row

- 150 Gold for five kills in a row

- 200 Gold for six kills in a row

- 250 gold for seven kills in a row

- 300 Gold for eight kills in a row

- 350 Gold for nine kills in a row

- 400 Gold for ten or more kills in a row

Therefore, if you were to kill an enemy at level sixteen on a five kill streak, you would earn 430 reliable gold. However, if one person is to earn the last hit on the kill, and there is one or more heroes within a 1000 unit radius, those extra heroes will earn assist gold with their own formulas.

- 1 Hero: 125+12*(Dying Hero's Level)

- 2 Heroes: 40+10*(Dying Hero's Level)

- 3 Heroes: 10+6*(Dying Hero's Level)

- 4 or 5 Heroes: 6*(Dying Hero's Level)

So, based on the previous example give of a level sixteen hero, two allies would earn 200 gold each.

Spending/Losing Gold

Now, on the topic of spending and losing gold. There are multiple ways to go about this. These methods include dying, purchasing and selling items, buying back, selecting a hero, and abandoning a match. Some of these are more likely than others to occur every match. For example you probably won't see a person abandon a match every game, but the ways these ways function are still things that should be well-known by a player hoping to improve their play.Dying removes 30*(Level of your Hero) unreliable gold. This can be influenced through the item Bloodstone (which reduces gold loss by twenty-five per stack). As mentioned earlier, dying will not take away from reliable gold.

Items all carry their own unique price. These prices will first take from your unreliable gold before your reliable, although it's likely you'll end up using both for items. You may sell back your items within ten seconds of the original purchase for a one hundred percent refund. If outside of this ten second window, you will only receive fifty percent of the value of the item as a refund.

Buying back from death holds a very unique formula to it, which you'll be unlikely to calculate in the heat of the match. However it does help to understand why your price is what it is, and so the formula is as follows:

This fee will take away from your reliable gold before your unreliable and is the only use of gold to work in this way.

(It should also be noted that in the formula it says "rounded down to a multiplier of 50", it refers to the gametime*15, not the entirety of the formula.)

In the case of abandoning a game, the players gold will be equally dividing amongst the remaining team-mates (including the passive 1.25 gold/sec gain). This also sells off the player's items, and divides that gold with the players as well. If the player who has abandoned is to rejoin, their passive gold gain will be reinstated (however the total gold lost will not).

Lastly, on an interesting note, selecting a hero costs gold. Upon entering hero select, you are given 853 gold. However, the ability to pick your own hero comes with the cost of having to pay 250 of the starting gold. Iyou choose to repick, it will cost you another 100 gold. This explains why if you are to random, you'll start with 853 gold, and repicking leaves you with 503 gold.

This has been my guide on a basic mechanic with DotA 2, Gold, and how it functions. You can contact me on Twitter at @KaranochBrynn, thank you for your attention.

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